This larva has been liberated from muscle by an artificial acid-enzyme digest solution. The thick, rounded end is the posterior, and the thinner, pointed end is the anterior. The anterior end has the appearance of a stack of disks. These are stichocytes, secretory cells which surround the esophagus. Collectively, the whole series of stichocytes and the esophagus they surround is called a stichosome, and is common in trichurid nematodes. The posterior end of the worm is filled largely with the genital primordium. Muscle larvae are about 1 mm long.